Sterling Griggs

Sometimes you just gotta write it all down while it's fresh in your head, kind of like a mind vomit that hits the computer keys. Here it is. My apologies to those who involuntarily retch at the mention or thought of vomit. Passion 2015 I have had the absolute joy of attending the Passion conferences now for several years. What started out as a chaperoned trip of college kids to Atlanta, GA, in 2007 has now turned into a much anticipated yearly event that I hate to miss. Yes, it's geared toward 18-25 year olds, but someone has to take them so why not me, right? Do you want to know why I believe Passion to be one of the greatest things going out there for this generation? First, it's not really a conference or even a get together - it's a movement. This is why it makes it so hard to describe to people what you experienced once you return home from a Passion event. Nowhere have I seen so many young adults who intentionally gather for the purpose of exalting Jesus a...

As 2015 rapidly approaches, there are many who are furiously planning how they want their lives to be improved in the coming year. There will be commitments for exercise and weight loss; striving for more discipline at work or in the classroom; setting goals for productivity; or just wanting less stress and more free time. Whatever your aim for 2015 is, I am on your side! I just wish that January 1 came with a magic tonic to help all of us achieve these lofty goals that we set for ourselves. But alas, there is nothing mystical or special about the first day of the year when it comes to the changes you believe that you need to make in your life, other it being a marker for you to begin with. Truth be told, I stopped making New Years' resolutions a long time ago for a couple of reasons. First, I was terrible at keeping them, but second and more important, if I knew that I needed to make life changes in the first place, then it would be pretty pitiful for me to wait until the fir...

As a kid, I never had my mouth washed out with soap due to foul language. Now this isn't because I never said a bad word, but rather because my parents probably never heard me. In truth, the real reason I was cautious to never utter a profane word in front of my parents is because of some wisely crafted medicine that my mom administered to me early on. During a stirring conversation about the consequences of bad language, she introduced me to the flavor of baking soda delivered in a tea spoon that would be punishment for verbal indiscretions. After tasting that awful powder, I vowed never to allow that stuff to pass my lips again. There are many words that are taboo in our culture and just simply should not be spoken. Or if we do say them, they are delivered in hushed tones so that no one else can hear. Some words are so foul to the ears that, when uttered, cause us to recoil in disgust and leave the conversation if not the room altogether. We reference these abominable sayings ...

The town that I live in, Southport, is a sleepy little movie set kind of town nestled on the coast of North Carolina. In fact, they regularly film movies and TV shows here (most recent being Safe Haven and parts of the Under the Dome TV series). As a result, for many months out of the year my town becomes a glorified tourist trap complete with gawking visitors and snail-going-uphill-backward-slow kind of drivers. We have come to affectionately call this the Southport Crawl. It can be annoying but we've learned to live with it. Normally by now traffic crawls at a decently faster pace so that when I have to get from point A to point B it doesn't take me nearly as long. Yet I was not surprised when on my way home today from picking my two daughters up from middle school, traffic had slowed to an obnoxiously slow crawl. 5 MPH. No joke. There were a few cars in front of me, but I could easily see the culprit - a little red pickup truck with its right turn blinker apparently s...

Growing up, I played the card game Rook all the time with my friends. We had regular get togethers at our homes on weekends to play and whenever we went off to summer camp we would play late into the night by flashlight. The best part about Rook was that you were able to "trump" other cards in the game. Whatever color was called trump, that color was king and it beat the other cards on the table. And if you had the actual Rook card, you essentially ruled the Rook world for that hand. Your trump card could beat the others, even if it was lower in number. In today's world, specifically in America, it seems as if everyone is looking for their own trump card that will allow them to have things their own way. We want to express ourselves however we want regardless of the consequences. And many people will step up to affirm your personal trump card even if they don't make the same life decisions that you have chosen to make. Helping others and being tolerant has the capa...

"When you heard a story 'bout the hero dying for the villain?" (Trip Lee One Sixteen ) Let's go ahead and clear the air from the get go - there isn't much about what Jesus did on the cross for us that makes sense. Was His sacrifice beautiful, His love unconditional, His redemption of us incredible? Yes! Does it fit into our rational thought processes? No! When we see someone guilty of a crime, especially one that is heinous and barbaric in our eyes, we want justice. For some that means the death penalty while for others they demand life in prison with no possibility of parole. Keep the criminals in their cages so that they can no longer prey on the weak and the innocent. Question: If the Red Cross knocked on your door and asked if you would be willing to donate your organs - your very life - to a terminal death row inmate, how would you react? "Um, no thanks, but I appreciate the free snacks that you give when I donate blood." You see, ...

The conversation was going well with my pastor friend until the topic shifted to another church in his area. Apparently, talking about THAT church hit a nerve. Before I knew it, I was hearing an in depth analysis about THAT church and its pastor and how they are stealing people from all the other churches in the community. Stealing? Well maybe not "stealing" he admitted, but courting them with flashy worship and big events and the "cool factor" that other churches like his own couldn't pull off. And did you know, he asked, that they don't even preach the Bible there? In fact, in their worship services they play "secular" music. The substance in THAT church is about an inch deep and a mile wide, he told me. I wasn't sure how to respond to such a scathing critique about this sister church. Probing a little deeper I found that my friend had never actually been in that church to observe these heretical phenomena nor did he personally know the pa...